


The Legendary Treasure Hoard

by tnnyoh



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Genre: Caves, Gen, Horror, Scary, oxventure - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 12:14:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20796461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tnnyoh/pseuds/tnnyoh
Summary: Corazon de Leon and his pirate crew head to find legendary treasure, but find nothing but trouble.





	The Legendary Treasure Hoard

**Author's Note:**

> This is a rewrite of an older short-ish story I wrote in a fanfic collection based on things from the oxventurers past, this is the story of how Corazon escaped from the curse that claimed his former friends.

Curly Joe looked through the spyglass and out over the horizon, he sighed deeply “What a goddamn beautiful sunset”

“What about the island?” Corazón asked, reaching for the spyglass, Curly Joe pushed him away “No, stop it, I’m trying to look at all the hues”

“Curly, we’re here for a reason!”

“If we can’t appreciate what the world has to offer, are we even real pirates?”

“Are we even real pirates if you refuse to go find treasure?”

Curly Joe reluctantly handed over the spyglass and shook his head “Well I did see the island anyway”

Corazón looked through the spyglass and focused it on a small island that was said to hold untold riches, buried deep within an old tomb that hadn’t been touched by humans in hundreds of years, but he also read that it was a hot spot for thieves and treasure hunters, so he assumed someone was lying 

“I’m pretty sure this is the right place” he said, lowering the spyglass and turning to face the rest of his crew. “Alright, it’s time for work boys!”

The was a murmur of excitement through the crew as they stopped what they had been doing on the deck, and started preparing to leave the ship, Curly Joe however, looked apprehensive.

“Corazón, we’ve… we’ve been on a few adventures together, haven’t we, gotten ourselves a couple treasures…”

“Yes, what’s your point?”

“I don’t feel like you take me seriously as your first mate”

Corazón groaned “Because you aren’t my first mate, Panniers is”

“Panniers? He doesn’t even know the name of our ship!” Curly Joe grunted in annoyance “He’s a prat”

“No one person on the Joyful Damnation is less or more important than anyone else, Curly Joe, we’ve all got our roles to fill and you all do a great job, I, probably do the best job because I’m literally driving the ship”

“Uh, well don’t ask the rest of the crew for a performance review because a lot of them think you don’t know what you’re doing”

“Excuse me?”

“Well uh, you have done stuff like this before, right? like before you met us, you didn’t just.. Trick us all into following you as captain when you don’t know the first thing about being a sailor, let alone a pirate?”

Corazón hesitated for a moment, and instead of answering his friend right away he jumped off the top deck, landing stylishly on the deck below and looking up at Curly. “Of course I know what I’m doing! I’m a pirate and have totally been for a super long time”

“I mean you sure say stuff like that a lot, and it’s a bit weird, I suspect, that you showed up on the scene of the seas the same time someone fitting your description went missing from high society” Curly cleared his throat and shrugged “From what I saw of posters around Geth, and all”

Corazón silently cursed under his breath as he remembered that several towns still had missing posters of him, he remembered the first time he saw one and knew right away that it wasn’t put up out of concern for his well being, but because his antics were embarrassing to his family.

His father had sent him a letter, nearly a year after he had run away which read:

“I do this with a heavy heart, my son, if you continue to go against my wishes and the legacy you are born to. I may have no choice but to cast you out of the family”

Not that he cared very much, of course.

“It’s high society, Curly. Everyone looks exactly the same.” He said with a laugh “Now come down here and help me dock the ship”

“Uh-huh,” Curly said gruffly, Corazón wasn’t worried about him of course. He was too stupid to catch on to the fact that Corazón wasn’t being entirely truthful about his past, and about his knowledge of being a ship captain.

Corazón had only been living this life for a year and some days, it wasn’t as if he didn’t know what he was doing of course. It almost felt like he was born for this life on the seas, and not the one waiting back in Abelforth for him. He felt free on the water, there were no expectations from him except to simply be a good captain and sound like he knew what he was talking about. Everyone already explicitly trusted him.

He had been with this crew for a while, having met up with most of them shortly after he gave up his former life to live at sea and they had gone on a couple of adventures, but this one… This was the one that would make them rich beyond their wildest dreams, they would become men of legends!

Everything was perfect, he had done all the research and had been preparing for this trip weeks in advance…. He knew deep within himself that this was it, this was the one….

So how the hell did it go so wrong?

*

"Captain" Jack Crackson whispered as the group neared the entrance of the cave "Are you.. are you sure this is the right place?"

Corazón stopped for a moment and pulled out a map from his pack "It's marked right here on the map the gypsy gave me" he looked around "It says we're right near it but I don't see-"

"It's right there!" Curly Joe said "It's a bit obscured but I think that's a cave entrance" and without warning he pushed past Corazón to head into the dark cave, Corazón pulled him back by his coat "No" he said "Don't.. go in there without a torch, it's a cave, there could be like... bats or snakes or something else that can bite you"

"Are you afraid of bats?" Curly asked with a laugh, turning to Jack "Get a load of this guy, he's afraid of bats"

"Of course not!" Corazón said with a shrug "But just.. let me get out my torch and then find something to light it with and then we can head into the cave" he pulled the rucksack off his shoulder and started searching through to find his torch "I mean it'll be much better just waiting for a little bit, we've waited this long, what's a couple more minutes?"

There was a silence, he assumed Curly and Jack were just whispering among themselves about his fear of bats. as he searched, a breeze picking up blew his hair into his face and he whipped around "Augh!"

When he regained his composure he realized that his friends were no longer there, he looked around for any signs of them but they were gone "Guys?" he picked up his rucksack and rose from the small patch of wet grass.

"Did you guys go in without me?" he shouted at the cave entrance "Come on guys! I can't find a torch"

There was nothing but silence and the sounds of the howling wind around him, the sky was starting to darken, overwhelmed with large storm clouds.

They didn't have much time to get this treasure and head back to the port before the storm came, he sighed and headed into the mouth of the cave, he didn't know if it were his eyes playing tricks on him or something else, but there seemed to be a strange glow coming from inside the cave, and the mid evening light was left behind him as he made his way into the dark.

The first thing he heard was the chittering of bats above his head, he shivered and pulled his coat closer to him, it was quite cold and damp in the cave and it smelled wrong, as if something had died there long ago and nobody ever found the body.

"H-hello?" he called out, his voice echoed off the walls of the cave and gave him a sense of foreboding.

This cave was located on an uncharted island off the coast of a small village nearby, when he was researching the notes and going over the maps, he wondered why it was so unknown and seemingly never visited, especially to the locals who didn't seem to know anything about it when Corazón and his crew came in to port.

He did recall something else from the notes, about an old pirate who had ventured into these caves looking for great treasure, he had made it out alive but he had no loot with him and when asked about it, he would claim the caves were cursed, the notes were written by someone who had spoken to the man, he had said something along the lines of "Those caves are dangerous, there's dark energy there, I nearly died in there"

Corazón didn't know if he believed any of the nonsense he was reading, in his travels of which there were many; he had heard stories of cursed treasure, cursed islands and cursed bottles of rum but he had never actually seen any of these things, and suspected maybe it was just something that pirates made up to keep themselves entertained on the high seas.

He nearly tripped over an errant rock when he saw a glow coming from further down the path, it was a torch, and it was already lit. "Hello? Curly Joe?" he called out, maybe they did have torches after all. He brushed his fingers against the torch holder, it was quite hot, meaning it had been here for longer than Curly Joe and the others.

He grabbed the torch anyway and held it above his head, careful not to get it too close to the bats that were waiting for him to let down his guard and have a feast on his corpse, he shook away the thoughts and kept going.

The torch light flickered and caused odd shadows to bounce off the walls, Corazón spotted something glinting in the distance ahead, he quickened his steps and knelt down to find a pocket knife with C.J carved into the side.

He pocketed it and straightened up "Hello?" he said again, and once more there was no response

"Curly Joe?"

"Jack Crackson?"

"Other pirates I never learned the names of?"

He took a couple of tentative steps forward and held his torch high above his head, his footsteps echoed in the cave and it was enough to nearly drive him mad, every other step he thought someone was following him and kept looking around, there were even a couple of times when he thought he heard his name being called out in a sinister whisper.

After some time, he came upon a more spacious part of the cave, higher ceilings and a wide open area, no more winding tunnels and cramped paths. He breathed a sigh of relief and stepped through into the large area.

It seemed to be in worse shape than the rest of the cave somehow, but light shone down all over the large rounded room, Corazón looked for a light source but couldn't find any and the sound of the howling wind seemed to make it's way deep into the cave.

There was an eerie glow to the strange light and he scanned the room, on the far side was an object catching the light and reflecting it across the walls of the cave, making it look almost like shimmering water.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned around in a panic "C-curly joe?" he said, his voice shaking, nobody was there.

He decided his mind was likely playing tricks on him and he stepped forward, holding the torch tight in his hand even though the room was bright.

And then he heard it

…..laughter

He whipped around so fast that he dropped the torch and the flame went out before it even hit the wet cave floor.

"Hello?" he said again, his voice was trembling and he felt unnaturally cold, it felt like a breeze blowing around him, clinging to his skin even through his clothes.

There was a wet sound in the distance, not the sound of someone splashing in the water but a disgusting heavy sound, like something slimy falling from a great height.

Corazón grimaced

“Curly, if this is one of your jokes… It’s not funny!” He shouted, none of his words echoed off the walls except the last one.

“Funny”

"Who said that?!" he felt himself getting more tense, more scared, he wanted desperately to just run out of the cave and leave, but his friends, they were here... somewhere.

The light that had surrounded the room disappeared as if someone had blown out a candle and he was bathed in darkness.

Tons of voices started whispering around him and overlapping each other, they were so frantic and fast that he couldn't make out anything they were saying.

"I hate this place" he caught one of the whisperers saying, he felt cold and it almost felt like a thousand clammy hands were reaching out for him.

"Pick it up and leave" another voice, another terrifying whisper that sounded as if it were right by his hear

He swallowed hard and closed his eyes, gently sobbing as the voices seemed to get louder and louder. He heard growling, angry shouting, and then he heard nothing at all. After a couple of moments he opened his eyes, everything was silent but the howling of the wind, and everything was dark... he could barely see anything in the cave anymore.

He didn’t even know which way was out… He closed his eyes once, trying to piece the room together by remembering the light from his torch. there was a table to the east of him, he walked slowly and felt around with his hands.

He found the table by slamming right into it and knocking various things to the ground, a loud clatter following.

All at once, every torch sconce was lit all around the room. He froze in place, his heart thudding away in his chest. Where he was alone before, there were now several others in the room with him, Jack, Curly and several others he forgot the names of…

"Captain" Curly said, with a curt nod “What took you so long?”

Corazón blinked at his friends "I.. uh, I guess I just got lost, how are you guys here?"

"We walked, and we didn't stop to scream at every passing shadow" Jack said with a smirk

"Why did you run in ahead of me? I told you that I had the torches" he said, ignoring Jacks mocking

"Well, we figured we'd have a head while you look for your little torch and then somethin' to light it with. We already found a bunch of stuff!" he said with a toothy grin "Check it out"

He was holding a sack that had been empty when they arrived on the island, taken from the ship’s lower level and mostly used to store salt they stole from other ships, Jack had filled it to the brim with what looked like golden bars, rusted silver coins, and other unverifiable treasures.

Curly Joe approached the table behind Corazón “What’s all this?”

Corazón, who finally was able to steady his breathing shrugged "Looks like just.. treasure, some of it seems like junk, but.. oh some of this is amazing" he picked up an ornate piece of jewelry off the table, examming it "How much do you think all this is worth?"

“Ah, we’ll live like kings!” a crew member said from the back, Corazón recognized him as Theodore, though the crew called him Leather Armor Theodore… on account of his leather armor.

“Isn’t the point of being pirates… not living like kings? They represent everything we hate!” Vibrating Bill said

“But we hate everything”

“Not gold!”

“Not doubloons”

“Not Havana!”

“Let's go to Havana!”

Corazón sighed "Hey, can we all chill for a minute, how are we going to get any of this back to the ship?"

"We can manage, just... make several trips" Curly said "It'll be fine"

"Are there any other rooms like this?" he asked, Curly scratched his head and shrugged “There’s one, but it’s got nothing in it except some old locked chest”

“Are you serious?” Corazón rolled his eyes “That’s probably like.. the most important thing in here! There’s probably… gold or something better..."

“There’s already gold out here though!” Vibrating Bill said"

"Come on, go back down there and get that chest, I want to see it"

“Why don’t ya do it yourself?” Jack Crackson said with a hearty laugh as he and the others turned to head back down the path against the opposite wall that Corazón had come in.

"You say that and yet you're doing it anyway" Corazón shouted at them as they shuffled away, leaving him alone once more. He took this chance to look at more of the things on the table, and then noticing something that he had knocked onto the floor. He leaned over to pick it up, it was a chalice and the inscription on it was in Latin or something, he recognize some of the words.

When he had read through the notes of this place, and heard some of the folktales surrounding it, he had heard tell of many items being locked away and he always wondered why if so many people visited this place or at least tried to, why was there no trace of anyone… no fingerprints, no footsteps, all the treasure still in one place…

Curly Joe and the others returned, heaving the heavy chest inches above the ground and then letting it drop with a echoing thud onto the floor of the cave, Theodore jumped out of the way before it hit his foot “Watch it!” he shouted as Corazón turned the chalice around to read the rest of the inscription.

"Out of place.... destruction will follow?" he read from the chalice aloud "That doesn't make any sense, what does that even mean?"

"Captain, what are you doing?"

"Oh I'm just checking out..." his voice trailed off and he felt rather mesmerized by the chalice, it was a beautiful golden hue, the rims were encrusted with some sort of gem.

"Give me a crowbar or something else to jimmy this" Curly said to one of the others, who obliged and handed him a rusted crowbar

" Corazón, you want to help with this?"

"Give me a second, I'm looking-"

"Put that damn cup down and help us out!" Curly said angrily, he turned his attention back to the chest, he and the others tried to pry it up but it wasn't seeming to give any. They stood there discussing ways of opening it while Corazón stared at the chalice, trying to make sense of the symbols that surrounded the inscriptions on it's golden surface. He could have sworn he had seen some of these before, and yet again his mind turned back to the question... why was the treasure still here?

And then it hit him.

He dropped the chalice as Curly and Jack pried open the lid of the chest

"No!" he shouted "Don't touch anything!"

"What are you talking about Capt, this is why we came down 'ere!" Curly said, dropping the crowbar and leaning forward to inspect the contents of the chest, where Corazón was standing, it seemed like sprinkles of dust and sand.

"Think about it for a second, everything is still here, nothing is missing. This is prime loot, if anyone came here before, if anyone found this place… All of this stuff shouldn’t be here, unless there was a reason they left it behind”

“You’re worrying about nothing,” Curly said with a toothy grin as he dug through the dust "Hey, I think I found something"

Everyone else leaned in, except Corazón who stood back, and it all happened so fast he didn't have a chance to react before a bright light enveloped the cavern, burning his eyes and making his skin feel hot.

The screams of his crew echoed off the walls and imprinted in his mind... when he regained his vision, he saw them…

Creatures.

Shadows.

He had no idea what they were but he knew they came from the chest, from these cursed objects. He took a moments pause…. Curly Joe groaned from the ground, Jack Crackson tried to crawl away from the strange shadows, the other crew mates had been thrown against the opposite wall in the blast..

And Corazón ran, he ran as fast as he could. Jumped over the forms of his old friends, ran past the shadow creatures and through the twisted and winding paths until he finally found the cave opening again, he had no idea how he made it through the dark of the cave but he didn't care look back, not even once, and when he came outside he realized the storm had already started.

Thunder roared angrily through the night sky and wind was pushing the waves violently up and down. He took a look behind him and saw the shadows rushing out and coming towards him, their arms reaching out, and angry whispers surrounding him.

His decision was made, he ran for the skiff that he and the others had used to get to the island from the ship and he started off on his own.

Watching the dark clouds over the island, the crash of thunder in his ears, the rain beating down on him as hard as it could....

The waves were crashing around him but he felt totally still, he had no thoughts except to survive, to escape... But everything in his being told him to turn back.

_you have to turn back_

Was it his conscience or was it his guilt?

He struggled against the waves in his little skiff, if he didn’t wash away it would be a miracle.

It took all he had left in him to fight against the storm, and it had taken hours but when he finally made it back to land, the sun had started to rise in the east, the storm was long gone and there was a peaceful quiet in the air.

He got off the skiff, tired, his body felt like he had been hit with a thousand hammers all at once.

_you just left them there_

He shook himself and crawled the rest of the way to the shore, digging his fingernails into the sand and closed his eyes.

_His crew_

_Gone_

_You left them…._

He went by the name Corazón de Leon, it meant Heart of a Lion… but from this moment forward he would only know himself as Corazón the coward.

He lay there for hours in the sun with nothing but the memories of his crew mates screams to keep him company.


End file.
